Hi Dennis and Anne and welcome to EP/OA.
It would help our members to answer your question if you told us which part of Spain you intend to live in, as prices can vary quite a lot from one region to another.

Overall we have found the cost of living in South Tenerife roughly half of that back in Blighty (North East England), but a few disagreed with me on this point. (cant remember the thread)

So as bawbee says, it depends on where you are in Spain and what level of lifestyle you wish to maintain.

There is a very good thread on http://www.andalucia.com on this .

Alan

Hello and thanks for replies. We are thinking of moving to mainland Spain somewhere between Alicante and up to Valencia possibly inland as we believe properties should be cheaper. We just need a basic cost of living as a starting point to our new venture of early retirement.
Dennis & Anne

Remember inflation in Spain is higher than UK so cost of living is going up fast also if your income comes from the UK allow for the possibility of the pound falling against the Euro the two together could be a double whammy

Not trying to be a wet blanket just a realist

Kathml. Yes we understand that but untill we get some form of yardstick
we wont know if our dreams can become reality,ounce we get some form
of basic living cost we can then determine what sort of lifestyle we could afford to how we would like to live if you understand what we are saying and thank you for reply and comment as we will need all the help we can get. Dennis & Anne

I live on the coast in costa del sol so I think the cost of living is higher here than where you plan to be.
I have a relative who moved a year ago to Valencia. They are retired, ontop of married couples UK state pensions they have a very small pension income ( I'm talking probably less than £200 GBP per month) They are better off in Spain by a long way. Their food costs are much lower (This is inland village prices) Their heating costs obviously much lower. They are covered by the national health system in Spain so obviously didn't have to budget for healthcare. Their petrol is much lower.
They have found that they can afford to eat out a couple of times a week, and have numerous coffees etc in bars and cafes. This they couldn't afford to do in the UK.
I think without knowing your income and lifestyle requirements I would say that if you were able to afford to live in the UK then you will certainly be able to afford to live in Spain. The main question being whether you will need to allow money for private healthcare.

Can anyone please give us any idea how much it would cost for two people to live a very basic life in Spain. We will have no mortgage but will run one vehicle. Dennis+Anne

Hi Dennis & Anne.

I live on the N.E coast of Spain in the Costa Brava which is not that far away from where you are thinking of moving to. We have just had our 3rd Christmas here and I can tell you I would not go back to the UK for anything.

My wife is retired but I decided to take early retirement so as yet I do not get state pension only part of my private pension, so as you would expext we have to watch the euros in some respect but not be that mean that we cannot go out for a meal when we want or have friends over to dinner etc. Having said that I think the cost of living is at least 1/2 the cost of that in the UK.

As an example our total heating and hot water bill for last year was approx €500 for a 4 bed 4 bath villa with pool and during the months of Feb/March tempretures were below freezing quite ofternat night.

Our electricity bill is an adverage of €80 every 2 months and we have a pool where during the summer the pump is running for a least 10 hours per day.

PSW spoke about private health care, you do not need that now because you will be covered under the new EU ruleing whereby Spain has to give full medical cover to any EU citizen living/visiting this country exactly the same as they would get if living/visiting the UK.

If I can help any more please feel free to PM me and maybe we can talk on the phone and I can give you further information, or feel free to ask further questions here, but I must add that I will only go so far with personal information that can be read by all. This last comment is not meant as an offence against anybody who post on here just my personal choice. I am quite will to give further information if I can talk to you in person.

Regards
a1gjv

a1gjv,
I would love to live in Spain (I love catalunya), but am afraid to take that leap. I am 30 and my husband is 38. I am a qualified nurse, do you know what the wages for nurses are like there? I am trying to learn the language as I know this would really help (but I am finding it difficult). Do they have English-speaking hospitals? My husband works for a bank, selling insurance. What are the wages like?
I know I'll have to do my research further, but I'd appreciate your comments and thoughts.

I copied this from a post in http://www.anadalucia.com

Cost of Living

Electricity 1,500€
Health Ins. 1,560€
Town Hall 'Rates' 370€
Urb. Fees 1,000€
Telephone 860€ (inc 480€ Internet ADSL)
Sky TV 720€
Car Insurance 420€
House & Contents ins. 200€
'Wealth' Tax 540€
Water (metered here) 190€
Car Tax 45€
Food, Drink, Petrol etc. 7,000€
This comes to about 14,400€ which equals £10,070 at current rates leaving about £1,900 for entertainment, emergencies, holidays etc.

Alan

An important thing not mentioned in above is pension provision.

Well what can we say but thank all very much for your help in answering our question it is just about what we wanted to hear and we realise you are talking now not next year, a1gjv you say we could talk to you direct but being a bit new at this message lark how do we contact each other to give and get phone numbers or do we just write our e-mail address down for all to see and i know you will propably think us dumb but what does PM mean please and alan cheam thank you, that was a very good of you to be so detaled in your reply i hope we can ask about other things as we go along. Once again folks thank you but please dont stop giving advise we need all the help we can get.

Well what can we say but thank all very much for your help in answering our question it is just about what we wanted to hear and we realise you are talking now not next year, a1gjv you say we could talk to you direct but being a bit new at this message lark how do we contact each other to give and get phone numbers or do we just write our e-mail address down for all to see and i know you will propably think us dumb but what does PM mean please and alan cheam thank you, that was a very good of you to be so detaled in your reply i hope we can ask about other things as we go along. Once again folks thank you but please dont stop giving advise we need all the help we can get.

Hi there,

I have sent you a PM or Private Message with my phone number in it and you are welcome to contact me any time and if I can answer any further question I will be only to happy to.

Now to get this private message you will either get a message when you log in saying you have a Private Message or after you have loged in to the left of where you log out you will see a message saying you have no new messages, when you have new messages that NO will change to the number that you have.

Hope you can understand what I mean (and I don't mean that comment in a bad way).

Regards
a1gjv

can anyone help me as to how we stand inporting a right hand drive car
to the murcia erea when we move to spain on a perminent basis please

can anyone help me as to how we stand inporting a right hand drive car
to the murcia erea when we move to spain on a perminent basis please

Hi there,

One of the things you have to consider is is the car worth taking with you when you move. I don't mean this comment to be rude against you or your car but I say it because you have to think about the economic side of the import.

You can keep a UK registered car legally in Spain for a max of 6 months then you my register it with Spanish plates and that is where the economic part I was talking about come in.

At some stage you will have to get from the DVLA a certificate of permanent export, and I would suggest you do that when the car tax runs out I would suggest you look here http://www.dvla.gov.uk/vehicles/regveh_whatmustido.htm for all the info on doing the UK side.

1. When you come to register you car in Spain you will first have to get a full written Technical report from your local Motor Technical Engineer which in my case cost me €60.

2. Next you will have to take your car together with the technical report to you local ITV which is the English version of an MOT testing Station. When you get there they will fail you car even if it is very new because of the head light pointing the wrong way so I would suggest you get them changed before you go for the MOT. The test is very much like it is in the UK only you drive your car from stage to stage of each test while they play. If all goes well with the test we move on to stage 3.

3. You will then have to locate you local equivalent of our DVLA go there with all the paper work for the car including Spanish car insurance and pay you car tax for want of a better word, which for me was €1,850, but before you shoot yourself that is a 1 off payment a kind of import fee and the cost depends on the type, make, size, Cc etc of the car. At this stage you should get issued with you new car registration number to replace your UK one.

4. The next stage is to go to your local town hall to pay you local car tax which you have to each year, again this cost depends on the type, make, size etc of your car. In my case it was €165. You will get a reminder just like in the UK when this is due, nice of them don't you think.

If you do not speak Spanish, and I sure hope at least one of you does it is a very daunting project importing a car, luckily my wife is Spanish so that solved that problem for me. You also need to be aware that, at least in my case and Spanish was spoken, just like any UK government department friendliness and helpfulness is not there greatest commodities and remember the Spanish way of life manana manana and the opening and closing times of these departments.

If I can help any more please post here, also if anything is done different down Murcia way I am sure somebody will pop up here and tell you.

May I wish you good luck on your quest and hope you have a happy life here in Spain.

Regards
A1gjv

Well thank you A1jgv for that information that was good of you, as a matter of interest the car will be a 4x4 with a 2.2 or 2.5 Turbo Diesel engine that will be no older than three years thats if we sell our house and get moved by next year year
Just one more question please would it be cheaper to sell our 4x4 and buy one in Spain

I realy don't know if it would be better for you to sell your 4x4 and buy second hand in Spain as I do not know what your 4x4 is. I would suggest you have a look at the Spanish web site of your make of 4x4. For example Citroen's web site in Spain is http://www.citroen.es I know it will be in Spanish but that will give you and idea of the new price of your 4x4 and what you might get if you sell it in the Uk then buy out here.

If you don't want to go through the import hassel then yes sell in the UK and buy here but that is a decision only you can make. If you like I can have a look localy to see what the second hand price of you current 4x4 is if that will help.

Hello A1jgv again thank you, the 4x4 car i have at the moment is a vauxhall frontera sport which is the short wheel base model but i am looking to change to a kia serento as this has 4 doors giving far more space and a lot more luxery and is good value for money compared to a lot of other makes.
if on your travels you do see any then yes please do let me know the prices, and would the cost of insurance be much different between left and right hand drive and just one more thing would i have to lose my personal number plate even though it would be registered in spain.
cheers mate. den

Hello anden. First things first. Your personal number plate, this is a rather grey area because yes you could keep it but you would not be able to put it on any car your registered in Spain, you would have to keep it on what the DVLA call retention but that is only possible if you live in the UK, but there is a way round it if you have family or children still living in the UK. You would have to sell it to them for a nominal fee say £1 then they could hold it on retention for a cost of I think £18 PA. If you go to this link http://www.dvla.gov.uk you can get all the info there under cherished number plates.

I did have a quick look at the Kia web site http://www.kia.es/index.htm I know it's in Spanish but is quite easy to follow, and a new Kia Sorento 2.5 CRDI will cost you at the moment as they are doing a special promo €27,714 on the road which equates to £19.200 in round figures.

What I will say about buying a car out here in my experience is you will not be able to do any DEALS the price you see it the price you pay even if you walk into the dealers with cash in you hand whether it is new or second hand you are buying.

The cost of insurance is almost the same for left or right hand drive. If fact depending on what age you are it is sometimes cheaper here than in the UK I know mine was and I drive a large Spanish registered right hand drive car.

I would suggest if you decide to buy out here you get a diesel whether it is a 4x4 or not as diesel is very cheap at 87 cents a litre which equates to about 55 pence a litre.